visit to rewari

rainwater harvesting in rewari

groundwater fell from about 60feet to about 100 feet between 2007-2008.i came across these amazing johads in the heart of rewari.each johad has a history to it and is in close proximity to places of worship.however like all cities in haryana, irrespective of the falling ground water level and the problems associated with water no resident or resident organisation has looked and pushed the administration to use these ponds for water harvesting.

visit to rewari

Village ponds in sohna block of gurgaon district

we have been hearing about the overutilization of groundwater in gurgaon district. we have been hearing fervant appeals by district administration officials and ngos regarding to conserve water(it is a different matter that the appeal maker is usually the one who would be the least sensitive on water issues. if you think i am wrong visit any of the government offices in the district and see the way overhead water tanks are overflowing, government cars are being washed and extremely few offices having a rain water harvesting system)

i have managed to compile a list of village ponds or johads in sohna block. this is the status of these ponds on paper.

a lot of these ponds have been already encroached upon(as you might have seen in the last video of the sukhrali johad in village sukhrali next to NH-8) or are in the process of being enchroached upon. village ponds are extremely low cost and efficient water harvesting systems which our elders knew how to use.

Block Sohna

Name of the village Approx size of the Village village pond/johad
Hajipur 4 acres 1 acre 1 acre
Ghaghonla 1 acre 1.5 acres 1.25 acres 1 acre 2 acres 1.5 acres
Johlaka 2 acres
Badshapur 1 acre 0.5 acre
Nunera 1.5 acres
Kharoda 0.5 acre
Sancholi 1.25 acres 2 acres
Kherla 4 acres
Chuharpur 1 acre 1 acre
Tolni 1.5 acres
Rani ka Sigola 1 acre
Baluda 2 acres
Kulyika 1 acre 1 acre
Karanki Khedli 2 acres 4.5 acres 4 acres
Damdama 1.5 acres 1.5 acres 1 acre
Lakhuwas 2 acres 2.5 acres 2 acres
Bilahaka 2 acres
Silani 2 acres 2 acres 1 acre 1 acre 1 acre 2 acres
Alipur 2 acres 2 acres
Nimoth 1 acre 1 acre
Rahaka 1 acre 1 acre
Dhunela 1 acre 1.5 acres 2 acres
Berka 1 acre
Dhaula 1 acre 0.5 acre
Badshapur Thether 1 acre
Gharatpur Bas 2 acres
Ullawas 1 acre
Behrampur 0.5 acre
Kadarpur 1 acre
Saap ki nangli 0.5 acre
Raisena 1 acre
Mehandwara 0.5 acre
Lohtaki 0.5 acre
Khaika 1 acre
Mohd. pur gujjar 0.5 acre
Khuntpuri 2 acres 1 acre
Sahajawas 1 acre
Ghamroj 1.5 acres

TOTAL NO. OF PONDS : 67

burning wheat stumps and press release from haryana

A press release from the public relations office Haryana caught my eye.
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Chandigarh, March 28 - The Deputy Commissioner, Bhiwani has imposed the ban to destroy the remainings of wheat through fire after the harvesting of crops.
The Deputy Commissioner had issued these orders. It had been come into the notice that after the harvesting of crops of wheat some farmers are destroying the remainings of wheat through fire.

By doing so, the farmers were not only helping in degrading the environment, but it was hazardous for the health also. Besides loss of property, such decision creates the scarcity of grass for animals. So, the decision had been taken not to destroy these remaining through fire and ban had been imposed on it.

These orders had been promulgated with immediate effect in the district and would remain effective upto May 15. Those would defy the orders, a case would be registered against them under section of IPC 188 and Environment Control Act, 1981.
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This press release i thought it was interesting. Interesting due to the following reasons

* Section 188 IPC is Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant
Whoever, knowing that, by an order promulgated by a public servant lawfully empowered to promulgate such order, he is directed to abstain from a certain act, or to take certain order with certain property in his possession or under his management, disobeys such direction,Shall, if such disobedience causes to tender to cause obstruction, annoyance or injury, or risk of obstruction, annoyance of injury, to any persons lawfully employed, be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both;And if such disobedience causes or trends to cause danger to human life, health or safety, or causes or tends to cause a riot or affray, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.Explanation-It is not necessary that the offender should intend to produce harm, or contemplate his disobedience as likely to produce harm. It is sufficient that he knows of the order which he disobeys, and that his disobedience produces, or is likely to produce, harm.

* I could not find anything on Environment Control Act, 1981. However there is an Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 : An Act to provide for the prevention, control and abatement of air pollution, for the establishment, with a view to carrying out the aforesaid purposes, of Boards, for conferring on and assigning to such Boards powers and functions relating thereto and for matters connected therewith.


Some background information

After the wheat has been harvested using a combined harvester what is left are the stumps. This is because the harvester cuts the wheat plant a certain distance above the ground.

One of the ways for removing the stumps is to bring in manual labour, an expensive proposition. The cheapest way for the Haryana farmer is thus to burn the stumps. What farmers across haryana do is to set their fields on fire so that the fire sweeps the fields burning the stumps. The farmers then till the soil.

Burning the stubble allows farmers to quickly plant their next crop and is a good tool for eliminating insects and disease from their fields, which can lead to less herbicide and pesticide use.

Incidentally burning is also practiced by farmers in the USA.

So what does the above press release imply

It has to proved that the farmer burnt the stumps in the field. It is a well-known fact that over 60% of rural Haryana defecates in the fields. It is also a well-known fact that majority of rural men and high number of rural women smoke bidis. So how do you prove that the fire was not due to somebody who has thrown a bidi.

Even if it is proved somebody purposefully burnt the stumps what does he do pay a fine upto rs 200. Nobody, i repeat nobody can be sent to jail as it would require some major political and administrative guts to do that and i don’t believe it is there in Haryana at least.

Yes this imposing of a ban will certainly get some people in the pollution control and agricultural department some extra bucks in their pockets as it would be a good way to harass medium holding farmers.(no big farmer can be touched)

So is it such a lame duck ban. Actually yes, it is more like a media exercise. It is like peeing in your pants. You get a warm feeling and it doesn’t effect anything.

Burning of the fields is an extremely wrong practice which have been adopted by farmers of haryana. A better way is to continuously educate them.

Agricultural burning impacts both local and regional air quality and has been linked to increased asthma and pulmonary infections.

flood in bhiwani 2008

last year saw unprecdented rains in bhiwani city. i happen to be there after three days of continious rains. some photos.

Johad in village sukhrali, Gurgaon

a video on youtube about the sukhrali johad. it is a 2-4 acre johad right on NH-8. an excellent place to do rainwater harvesting. all the rain water from the highway can be harvested in this johad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-bqdn8nXA

DHBVN to exchange old CFL's : Question is where

This was a press release of DHBVN carried by a national daily Indian express.

Hisar, July 29 The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has turned more environment-friendly and cautious. It will now collect old unbroken burnt or used Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), incandescent bulbs and tube lights for proper disposal so that these are not harmful to society and environment.

So i called the customer care number of DHBVN. the bloke up picked up the phone had no clue what i was talking about.

So i called up the office of the S.E (supd. engg.) DHBVN gurgaon. whoever picked up the phone had no clue about the exchange offer. when i insisted i was given the number of some executive engg. DHBVN who is supposed to be dealing with this.

When i called up the number nobody picked up the phone.

Obviously the people down the line in DHBVN have no clue what people up the line are doing.
The customer care is only for line faults. i wonder why do they call it customer care. it should be renamed fault care.

Meanwhile DHBVN issues press release's about how environmnetal freindly it is, consumers are pushed cfls' and nobody has a clue about the environmental impact.

from gurgaon to jajjhar

as i drove down from gurgaon to jhajjar i clicked a few photos. here they are for your pleasure

Drinking in the greens

a liquor outlet in the green belt at dhanwapur road. the forest and the excise department, where are you????

Haryana's way to promote solar devices

As per a press release from the public relations department of Haryana Government, Gurgaon and Faridabad Cities of Haryana havebeen selected for development as Solar/Green Cities under the schemeof Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India. The release goes on to say that the project aimed at a minimum 10 per cent reduction in projected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years.

Now the funny part, let me share the ground reality of the government endeavor to promote non-conventional or renewable energy. I wanted to promote solar lantern among my domestic help as well as among people providing everyday services like the vegetable vendor, gardner etc. So i called up the Aditya Solar Shop in Gurgaon and wanted two solar lanterns. As the official concerned knew me i coordinated with him the date and time when i could pick up the lanterns.

The lanterns are actually very well made and cost rupees seven hundred a piece. Now comes the interesting part. The purchaser has to fill a full-page form. The official confided that the form was more important than the seven hundred rupees i was giving him.

A form to buy an item which saves electricity and does not emit green house gases. which century are we living in? :(

The form has columns like

Subject: Request for purchase of _________________
Name of the beneficiary
Fathers Name
Village/Tehsil/District(Full Address)

If this was not all, you are supposed to submit a photocopy of either a ration card/voter id card/passport/ any other residence proof. (gosh!)

Then comes the best part. It says “ I hereby swear that i will not sale or shift the system purchased from Aditya Solar Shop under subsidised program. This is followed by a signature and seal from the sarpanch/counsellor of your area. :)

So what happens to the bengali maid who does not have any residential proof or the vegetable hawker who comes from U.P etc. Well they should not acquire a solar device as they don’t have a residential proof and hence they can’t go green.

So for whom are these devices for? People who have money and have a residential proof. Unfortunately most of these people don’t care about going green or environment. I have neighbours who have bought a heavy-duty generator so that all AC’s in their house can be switched on in case of a power cut. They won’t consider a solar device.

The government and its enlightened officers want to go green on its own steam without taking the public along, specially the teaming masses who actually would make a difference to the ambitious programs of the government. Does somebody actually care or is it just good for press releases, disbursal of funds and then restart on the ambitious program once again.

The success of a program lies with the people who are the target segment. A little moving out might do a whale of a good to officials who draft and implement government programs and the actually the government can reduce the demand of electricity by over 25%.